That’s why a well-crafted estate plan is so critical. It ensures that your hard-earned wealth (including intangible, non-financial assets) can pass intact to those you intend to be your beneficiaries, instead of being siphoned off to government processes and bureaucrats, or even being lost. We all dislike handing over our resources to those who don’t have our best interests in mind.

A well-made estate plan guarantees that this will NEVER happen to your family.

“But, what happens if I don’t create an estate plan? Doesn’t the judicial system have easy steps in place for families?”

Yep, and it’s called “probate” (Latin for “prove the will”), and it’s an ugly process.

You see, “probate” guarantees government interference in how you transfer your estate (however large or small). Documents must be filed and approval must be received from a court to pay your bills, pay your spouse an allowance, and account for your property. Oh, and even worse-it all takes place in the public’s view.

If you fail to plan your estate, not only do you lose the opportunity to protect your family from an impersonal, complex governmental process (that is a burden at best) but it’s slapped across the public domain for all to see.

Then, of course… there are taxes. You think the government is incentivized to keep those low on your behalf? There’s a variety of solutions for each family’s particular situation, but the plain fact is that working without a plan is U-G-L-Y no matter how you slice it.

When it comes right down to it, planning is a gift for your family (the people you love most) because if you don’t take care of things while you are living and able, they’ll have a mess to clean up when you are gone.

Even more, if you have children, you want to establish the proper (legal) procedure for ensuring they’re taken care of properly.

So if these issues are important to you (and I believe they are), make your tax preparation appointment with us count twice, and we can set you up with how to get this process started right.

1)Â Â Â Â Â Set Realistic Goals First, ask the right questions and stay the course until you’ve found the answers. Goals that are shared are ten times more likely to be acted on. Don’t wait until you have everything set up to seek out accountability.

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2)Â Â Â Â Â Make those goals concrete and then document them. Set your savings goals as a specific annual percentage of your adjusted gross income (AGI). It’s a great idea to save at least 10% of your AGI in tax-deferred retirement accounts and another 5% toward retirement in taxable investments. If you are behind on your savings, you may want to save even more in order to catch up.

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3)Â Â Â Â Â Craft the best strategy to implement your goals, including prioritizing the appropriate retirement vehicles. Start by investing just enough to get the entire match from a company’s 401(k) plan (if you have one) and then fund your Roth IRA accounts next. After these two, make certain you have enough non-retirement savings.

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4)Â Â Â Â Â And this is a BIG deal– automate your plan. Automating putting money in an employer-defined contribution plan is easy. Automating a taxable savings plan is just as painless. Most banks or brokers offer an automatic money link between an investment account and a checking account. They should also offer a monthly automatic transfer between the two accounts.

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But I will say one last thing: the most critical component of wealth management in the new year will be tax minimization. With the potential for tax rates to fluctuate even more than the stock market in 2011, it’s never been more important to monitor what “Uncle Sam” is seeking to take from your wallet!

There may be a few moves we can make that can help your tax hit before weâ€™re forced into â€œreaction modeâ€ â€” which is the only mode out of which after-the-fact tax work can be done. So, if at all possible, Iâ€™d like to change that paradigm for you by having you answer a few short questionsâ€¦

So, without further ado â€” some questions for you:

Have you had a significant change in your wage income this year?Have you taken capital gains or losses this year? Are you planning to?Did you start or sell a business this year?Did you purchase real estate?Did you make your full contributions to retirement accounts?Have you considered a Roth IRA?Did you withdraw from retirement accounts, and for what purpose?Are there any other issues you think we should know about?

Now â€” the answers to these questions form the â€œtip of the icebergâ€, and they will help us to know which direction to take as we work with you.